07 August 2022

Senior Sunday School 4 : Psalms Book 2 : Psalm 43 : 7th August 2022

Senior Sunday School 4 : Psalms Book 2 : Psalm 43 : 7th August 2022
Text: Psalm 43

Speaker:
Rev Dr Charles Tan
Series:
Psalms Book 2

Message Notes

SSS 4 7 August 2022
Book 2
Psalms 42-72

Text: Psalm 43

1 Vindicate me, O God,
And plead my cause against an ungodly nation;
Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!

2 For You are the God of my strength;
Why do You cast me off?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

3 Oh, send out Your light and Your truth!
Let them lead me;
Let them bring me to Your holy hill
And to Your tabernacle.

4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
To God my exceeding joy;
And on the harp I will praise You,
O God, my God.

5 Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.

Psalm 43:1-5

1. Psalms of Vindication

a) Psalm 17:2
b) Psalm 26:1
c) Psalm 35:24
d) Psalm 43:1

2. The Nature of these Vindication Psalms

a) To seek God’s Justice
b) To ask God to plead the psalmist’s cause
c) To seek divine deliverance

3. The Plea to God

1Vindicate me, O God,
And plead my cause against an ungodly nation;
Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!

2 For You are the God of my strength;
Why do You cast me off?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

Psalm 43:1-2

a) Stating the case before God
i) An ungodly nation
ii) The deceitful and unjust man
iii) The oppression of the enemy
b) Acknowledgment of the Judge
i) He is God Himself
ii) He is the God of my strength

4. A Deeply troubled state of the Psalmist

a) Negative feelings
“Why do You cast me off?”
b) Sorrowful feelings
“Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”

5. The Wise Prayer of the Psalmist

Oh, send out Your light and Your truth!
Let them lead me;
Let them bring me to Your holy hill
And to Your tabernacle.

Psalm 43:3

a) Prayer for enlightenment
b) Prayer for God’s leading
c) Prayer that God would lead the psalmist back to the Tabernacle

6. Holding fast to a personal faith in the LORD

4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
To God my exceeding joy;
And on the harp I will praise You,
O God, my God.

Psalm 43:4

a) To be at the altar of God
b) To be able to sing to the LORD his “exceeding joy”
c) To offer hymns of praise to God
d) A very personal relationship with God

7. Battling feelings of despair

Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.

Psalm 43:5

a) Addressing the soul
i) Cast down
ii) Disquieted
b) Exercising Hope in God
c) Hope to praising God again
d) Help from God to vindicate him as prayed